nsman. Could frontiersmen who
had never fought together before, who had never seen the face of a
civilized foe, withstand the conquerors of Napoleon? But two branches of
the same stubborn race were represented on that little watery plain. The
soldiers trained to serve the strongest will in the Old World were face
to face with the rough and ready yeomanry embattled for defence by the
one man of the New World whose soul had most of iron in it. It was
Salamanca against Tohopeka, discipline against individual alertness, the
Briton of the little Isle against the Briton of the wastes and wilds.
But there was one great difference. Wellington, "the Iron Duke," was not
there; "Old Hickory" was everywhere along the American lines. A grave
and moderate historian, comparing the defense of New Orleans with the
defence of Washington, finds the two situations not unlike. "The
principal difference," he remarks, "was that Jackson commanded."

Pakenham's first concern was to get rid of the Carolina and the
Louisiana. Heavy guns were with great labor hauled from the fleet, and
on December 27 the Carolina's crew were forced to abandon her, and the
Louisiana was with difficulty got out of range; but meanwhile Commodore
Patterson had mounted a battery across the river which in a measure made
up for the ships. On the 28th, Pakenham advanced with his whole army,
but retired, without making any assault, to await the result of an
artillery duel. This was fought on New Year's day, 1815. The British
used at least twenty-four guns, throwing some three hundred and fifty
pounds of metal; the Americans, fifteen guns, throwing two hundred and
twenty-four pounds. On both sides novel defences were employed,--cotton
bales by the Americans, barrels of sugar by the British. The bales
quickly caught fire, and from that time were discarded; the barrels
proved as useless as if they had been empty. The result of the action
would have been utterly surprising but for the discovery already made in
Canada that Americans were better marksmen than British regulars. Three
American guns were damaged; every one of the British batteries was
silenced and abandoned. The American loss was thirty-four killed and
wounded; the British, somewhat heavier.

Pakenham waited a week for General Lambert to come up with two of his
regiments, and then made his supreme effort. His plan was to advance on
both sides of the river. During the night of January 7, Colonel
Thornton, with 1200